NAME: Charles F. Northup 
RANK: PFC at this time. Discharged-SP4
BRANCH OF SERVICE: Army
ACTIVE DUTY: March 1968-February 1978
Location: Long Binh

Long Binh from Jan.69' to Jan.70' 
It was time for the Tet Offensive in 1969. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong banned together 
to try to take over all of South Vietnam at one time. There was major fighting all over the 
country. This would happen every year at about the same time. I was stationed on Long Binh 
Post which at that time had the distinction of being the worlds largest ammo dump in a combat 
zone. It was so large that it was almost like being stationed in the States. We had a PX, 
steam bath, USO club, the works. I was in the 632nd HEM (Heavy Equipment Maintenance) Company 
working as a mechanic. One evening after work we were called into a formation and told by the 
CO that a large group of North Vietnamese regulars has been spotted heading in our direction. 
We were also told what time to expect them to hit us. The direction they were coming from 
they would have to go through where an Armored unit was set up. Well this Armored unit which 
was about 5 miles out in front of us just opened the doors and let the North Vietnamese come 
through. The Armored unit then closed in behind them and followed them in to us. We had our 
main perimeter which was well secured with claymore mines, machine guns, individual rifles, 
grenades, flares, and plenty of troops to use all this stuff. 500 meters behind the main 
perimeter was a secondary perimeter with plenty of troops and there individual weapons. 500 
meters behind that was my unit. Our job was to load ammo into clips for the guys out on the 
line. Well sure enough about 2:00 AM just as expected the North Vietnamese hit Long Binh 
Post. They did break through the main perimeter but the guys in the secondary perimeter were 
able to hold there ground and push them back out. Where I was at I could hear all the 
fighting and was shaking in my boots just hoping they would not break through the secondary 
perimeter.I was new to Vietnam and it was my very first alert. Well when they hit Long Binh 
they had the Armored unit behind them Long Binh in front of them and helicopter gun ships up 
over them. They didn't stand a chance. A whole Battalion of North Vietnamese regulars was 
completely wiped out along with a company size unit of Viet Cong. In fact one of the Viet 
Cong that was killed was the barber that had cut my hair just 1 day before that. American 
forces only lost 4 men. I mentioned the barber just to let you know that we could not trust 
anyone over there. We had Vietnamese civilians working on post . We always new ahead of time 
when we were going to be attacked because the civilians would refuse to come to work the 
days that we were attacked.

ANOTHER STORY

I don't remember what month it was but it was still 1969 at Long Binh Post. It was my turn 
to pull guard duty at night out on the main perimeter. There was 3 of us on duty in the same 
bunker. Looking at Long Binhs main perimeter from the enemies point of view he would have to 
go through the following in order to get on post.
1 row of concertina wire with trip flares.
1 row of tangle foot wire with trip flares.
Another row of concertina wire with trip flares.
6 claymore mines per bunker. ( the bunkers were spaced approximately 100 yards apart. ) 
Each bunker had 3 men with there individual rifles, hand flares, grenade launcher, machine 
gun,field phone, and a detonator for the claymore mines.
The other two guys I was with were sleeping because it was my turn for watch. (every 2 hours 
we traded off ). I started hearing something moving out in front of me. I sent up a couple 
of hand flares but could not see anything. I looked through the starlight scope which is a 
night vision device and still could not see anything. I got on the field phone and reported 
hearing movement but no visual. The guys in the bunkers on either side of me reported the 
same thing. We were given a 500 meter free fire meaning anything within 500 meters we could 
shoot first and ask questions later.Back then I had pretty good hearing so I was able to 
pinpoint where the movement was coming from. I shot in the general direction with the machine 
gun. The movement stopped and all was quiet the rest of the night. The next morning after it 
became daylight we were sent out in front of the perimeter to see if we could find anything. 
We did find a VC Sapper with about 6 holes in him. A sapper was highly trained to go through 
all of that wire without setting off any flares, disarm the claymore mines and then throw 
an explosive charge in the bunker and then go back out through the wire all within 2 
minutes. When I saw where he was I realized that he was working his way toward my bunker. 
Thank god for good hearing at that time.

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